Matt Robinson; He Was A Baseball Player
Bill Schenley
Graduation
FROM: The Beaumont Enterprise ~
By Christine Rappleye
Baseball was the sport Matthew "Matt" Robert Robinson loved and played for
several years.
His life ended while he was playing it Wednesday night.
Robinson collapsed in the batter's box and later was pronounced dead at
about 10 p.m. at the Medical Center of Southeast Texas, Nederland Police
Chief Darrell Bush said by phone.
The high school senior was 18. He would have graduated next week with his
class at Nederland High School.
Preliminary autopsy results still were pending Thursday afternoon. Bush said
it appeared there was no foul play.
Vidor senior Jamie Britt collapsed earlier this week at school and later
died at the hospital. Nederland sophomore Jordan Dixon, 15, died in a car
accident earlier last week.
Extra counselors were brought in Thursday and area pastors came to help
grieving students, who were in shock about Robinson's death, said Principal
Randy Lupton.
The car giveaway for good attendance scheduled for Thursday morning was
postponed.
Robinson was listed as one of the student assistants on the boys basketball
team on the district's Web site. He was on student council and his parents
were active in the Parent Teacher Association and Project Celebration for
graduating seniors, Lupton said.
Lupton said school officials are planning a way to remember him during
graduation.
"He was very well-liked," Lupton said.
Robinson had played Babe Ruth baseball for several years and never missed a
game, said Jimmy Collins, the Mid-County Babe Ruth League Dodgers coach.
On Wednesday evening, it was bottom of the third and neither the Dodgers nor
the Pirates had scored.
There were no runners on base and Robinson was up to bat.
The count was three balls and no strikes and the red-headed centerfielder
looked at his coach, then down at the base.
Robinson fell down in the batter's box, Collins said. He had showed no signs
of problems earlier in the game.
By the end of the school day Thursday, dozens had scrawled messages in blue,
black and green ink to him on the paper tacked over locker 1762 in the bank
of yellow lockers in the senior hallway at Nederland High School.
"C/O 2006 will always remember + love you" was written around a picture of
Robinson in his graduation robe.
"Matt, you will always be remembered," was part of Clint Whitaker's
contribution.
"He was kind and nice to everyone," said Whitaker, 18, also a graduating
senior, adding Robinson was never rude.
Whitaker had government class with Robinson and had worked on a project with
him last week. Their assignment was to produce a presidential campaign. They
shot video for it. Robinson had volunteered to edit it and write the report.
The group got 110 out of 100, Whitaker said.
"If something had to happen, he was doing what he wanted to be doing," said
Whitaker, who had played baseball with Robinson back in their T-ball days.
"I hope everyone keeps the family in their prayers," Whitaker said.
Visitation is from 5 to 8 p.m. today at Pat A. Riley Funeral Home in
Nederland. Services are at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at First United Methodist
Church in Nederland, with burial at Memory Gardens.